Each Day Is a Gift And Not a Right
by valeskathesilverwolf
Summary: Spoilers for 7x01 and 7x02! It wasn't just a trench coat that was floating in the water. A chance to right the wrongs before the end.


A/N: When I saw Cas' trench coat, for one second, I thought it was actually him floating in the water. That is what inspired this, because frankly our little nerd angel deserves some mourning! (I'm not admitting he is dead yet though) On another note, this has brought along some great trench coat inspired fics.

Spoilers: 7x01 & 7x02

Warnings: Angst, Character Death (?), average dark feelings that comes along when someone dies.

Soundtracck: Miracles by Jefferson Starship

"Ah hell," Bobby sighed, as the blue lake was rocked with a black explosion. The men turned and stared at each other, their failure pulsing with each beat of their racing hearts.

"Dammit." Dean cursed, not taking his eyes off the spot where Castiel had submerged.

"You said it, those whatever you call them-"

"Leviathans." Sam answered.

"Yeah, if there in the pipes they got themselves highway to anywhere." Bobby explained.

"Awesome," Dean choked out. All of a sudden, something caught his eye out in the water. Something was floating in the water, something brown. His eyes widened with shock at the realization of what it was. "Cas…" He breathed.

Sam and Bobby's heads snapped up at Dean's voice; they too, saw it. Dean shucked of his coat, but was stopped by Bobby. "Boy, wait a minute-"

"Bobby not now, Sam help me!" Dean exclaimed.

"The damn things might still be in the water! Who knows what they will do?" The old hunter was also worried about what Dean would find. He didn't think the boys could take seeing their friend's corpse.

Dean ignored him and dived into the water. It was cool against his over-heated skin, parts of the water being warmed by the new morning sun. Dean swam against the currents to the floating figure. He grasped ahold of it, pulling it towards shore. The hunter's heart racing in his chest as he realized that is friend was deadweight. Hopefully he was unconscious, but in the back of his mind he already knew.

Sam and Bobby met Dean in the water and helped him lug out the angel. Gently, they laid him down on the grass. Cas' body was soaked in blood and black tar looking goo. Sam frantically felt for a pulse, but swallowed a lump in his throat when he found none. "He doesn't have a pulse."

"Okay, okay Cas, you've got help me out here with this," Dean pleaded, as he began CPR. Bobby took Sam's place at Cas' head and tilted his it back to open the airway. "One, Two, Three, four, breathe." Bobby bent his head down and breathed for Cas, who was becoming extremely cold. Nothing happened.

Sam ran to check his pulse; again, he found nothing. Bobby shook his head and Dean continued with compressions. After reaching thirty compressions, Dean started back over.

"Dammit boy!" Bobby growled at Cas' prone form.

Dean felt his heart beating in his chest and wished that he could give some of his beats to his best friend. He had already lost Cas once today, he wasn't going to lose him a second time. He prayed to whoever was listening that he could tell Cas that he was sorry for being a dick to him all those months, he just wanted to apologize once.

Suddenly, Cas took in a huge breath of air. His eyes shot straight open, startling the three men. Cas started couching, and Dean quickly turned him over as he vomited water into the grass.

"It's okay." Dean soothed. "We've gotcha. You're going to be okay.

"Once Cas had expelled the water, he fell back against the grass. Sam checked his pulse and was surprised to find it sluggish and barely there. "Cas?" He asked, timidly.

"I'm sorry." Castiel groaned out. "I'm so sorry."

"Cas look at me." Dean snapped his fingers in front of the angel's face. A half-lidded blue gaze turned to him. "Are you okay? Those…things said you were dead."

Cas didn't answer him, but turned to Sam. "Sam I would have never left your soul in the pit, if I'd known. I'm sorry I broke down the wall, it was uncalled for. I'm sorry-"

Tears formed in the Cas' eyes. They all stared at him. This was the first time that they'd seen the angel display this type of emotion. "Hey Cas, Cas look at me!" Dean yelled. "We'll sort all of this later; now let's get you up."

"There isn't time…" Cas rasped. Dean froze a confused look took over his face.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, fearing the answer.

"I'm…dying…I'm sorry. This is all my…fault. I-"

Sam and Dean's world stopped for a second. After all of this shit, all of it, they were going to lose their best friend. "NO! You are not dying you stupid son of a bitch! You hear me?" Dean panicked. "We are going to fix this mess together. You promised me you would make it up to me, remember? So you've got to keep breathing."

"Sam, Dean, Bobby; I understand if you can never forgive what I did. I just want you to know I'm sorry."

Sam grabbed his hand and forced him to look at him. "Listen we've all did crap, _all_ of us, and we've been forgiven. You can be forgiven, I…I forgive you okay, just stay with us. We need your help to stop this." Sam choked out.

"Thank you Sam." Cas sighed, he grimaced and his eyes started to close. Bobby put his hand on the angel's torso and was alarmed to find something hot and wet. He pulled his hand back to find it covered in liquid red. He ripped open Cas' shirt and felt the bile rising in his throat at what he saw. There was a hole as big as a soccer ball that stretched from his chest to his lower abdomen. "Guess we know how they got out then." Sam pulled his jacket off and placed it over the wound. Cas moaned and tried to move away, but Bobby put a hand on his shoulder. "Stop…" Cas choked. "Let me die in peace."

"Son you should know better than that. You're not giving up without a fight." Bobby smiled at him.

"Thank you, you were more of a father to me than my own…ever was." Bobby shook his head and turned away.

Finally, Cas turned to Dean and smiled. "Dean, I was honored to be considered your brother. Thank you for everything. I'm sorry it ended like this."

Dean felt a couple of tears run down his cheek and didn't bother to wipe them away. "Cas I'm sorry. I was a dick to you…I know I just used you as a tool, but your my best friend. You're still apart of this screwed to hell family, and we don't give up on family. You're not going to die."

Cas chuckled and shook his head; light danced around his eyes. "Goodbye."

"Cas-"

Dean was cut off by an intense blast of light. They all closed their eyes and covered their ears from the screech that erupted somewhere from the light. Finally it died down and they all uncovered themselves.

Cas was completely still; he was pale. That wasn't the worst though. On both sides of him were the imprint of two wings.

"CAS!" Dean screamed and shook his friend's limp body. "No! No you don't get to do this! Wake up you dumb son of a bitch! Come on Cas, please!" Everything broke inside Dean; the walls came tumbling down. Tears fell from his eyes and wouldn't stop. He met Sam's gaze and saw he too had tears on his face.

Slowly, Dean got up. "Godammit fuck!" He screamed. Bobby gathered the much smaller angel in his arms and hoisted him up, carrying him bridal style. The wings fell down from Cas' limp body to the ground. "Come on, let's get out of here. We'll take him back to my place. Give him a hunter's burial."

Dean wiped furiously at his eyes, and nodded. He could only stare at what used to be his friend. "I'll take him Bobby." Dean said, and grabbed Cas from the hunter's arms, surprised at how light he was. Together they walked back to the cars, minus one member.


End file.
